


insomnia

by twiceshy (oncebitten)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2018-12-26 22:49:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12068550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oncebitten/pseuds/twiceshy
Summary: Unconnected snapshots that take place in the same universe.





	1. Chapter 1

**What qualities do you look for in an ideal partner?**

 

The letters looked up at Jaehyun in bold font from his worksheet. It was part of the relationship management workshop all kids in their country were put through in middle school. Of course some people met their soulmates younger than that, but this was early enough to pre-empt most meetings. They'd go through a preliminary one in middle school, then another one in high school.

 

Although some of his classmates were thinking hard, it was easy for Jaehyun to answer. He wanted someone nice, happy, and in love with him. If he his soulmate had all that, then Jaehyun couldn't possibly find them hard to love back.

 

\---

 

Jaehyun woke up rather disoriented, and he had no idea why he had dreamt of his middle school days so vividly. He hadn't been there in years.

 

He tried to sit up, and found that it was strangely difficult.

 

"Hey there, slow down," someone said. He had a soft, smooth voice molten marshmallow. Did Jaehyun like marshmallows? They were sugary.

 

A warm hand clad in rubber glove steadied his shoulder and helped him prop himself up.

 

He looked at the hand's owner and saw a tall nurse with dark eyes and a mask. He was a little bit scary. Did Jaehyun like scary?

 

"I've never seen a guy nurse before," Jaehyun remarked.

 

Guy nurse's eyes smiled. Jaehyun did like scary.

 

"I'm a medical intern, actually," guy nurse said.

 

Jaehyun stared at him blankly. "Am I in a hospital?"

 

Guy intern tilted his head a bit. He might have been smiling. Jaehyun still liked people who were nice and happy.

 

"Yes you are," he said.

 

"Why?" Jaehyun asked.

 

"There was a bus accident. You got the worst of it. You had a concussion and you lost consciousness."

 

Jaehyun frowned. He might have remembered a bus. He sat in them every day. "Am I okay?"

 

Tall guy intern-nurse's eyes never stopped smiling. "You're fine. You might be disoriented for some time. Don't get up until you're steady, alright?"

 

Jaehyun nodded. As he slumped back against his pillow, his eyes caught sight of a drip he hadn't noticed stuck into a vein in his hand- and a red string.

 

A red string!

 

"Hey that's new!" he exclaimed, suddenly less drowsy than he'd been. He had a soulmate and they were going to meet soon! He'd been waiting all his life!

 

He looked compulsively at tall guy nurse intern and gaped. He had a red string too, and Jaehyun could see his red string, which meant that his red string was Jaehyun's red string and they shared the same one.

 

Nurse guy's eyes were  _definitely_ still smiling. 

 

"I'm Johnny," said nurse guy.

 

"I'm your soulmate," Jaehyun said, and he couldn't stop the stupidest grin from growing on his face.

 

Nice and kind and wonderful, Jaehyun hoped. He was ready to fall in love.


	2. Chapter 2

**What qualities do you look for in an ideal partner?**

 

_OLDER THAN ME,_ was what Taeil had scrawled though he knew he didn't have a chance.

 

His soulmate was  _nine_ (and a half) and could barely speak a word of Korean. Taeil had been devastated to meet him. He wasn't going to be a _babysitter!_  He didn't tell anyone in school that he could see his string.

 

One of the kids in class said you could play jump rope with your soulmate with your string once you could see it and Taeil really wanted to try. He was _dying_ to find out if his classmate was telling the truth because everyone thought he was a liar but they couldn't prove it. Taeil could.

 

If only his soulmate weren't so small.

 

\---

 

"You're the _cutest_ ," Taeil cooed, scuttling over right in the zone of his soulmate's personal space on the sofa. He might have been trying to be annoying on purpose.

 

Sicheng pushed him away so that Taeil's hair would stop blocking his phone. Taeil let himself be pushed, then allowed momentum to rock him back. He rested his forehead on Sicheng's shoulder.

 

"You're so cute," he said again.

 

Sicheng rolled his eyes. Taeil could tell that Sicheng loved him, honestly.

 

"Remember when you used to hate me?" Sicheng reminded.

 

Taeil groaned. He hadn't the best judgement in middle school. (But Sicheng's kid photos weren't half as cute as he'd grown up to be, so perhaps middle school Taeil had a point.)

 

"You used to be a child, but now you've grown tall and I like you," Taeil said.

 

Sicheng made a dismissive sound, but his blush gave away his feelings.

 

"Thirteen olds can't date nine year olds anyway," Taeil said wisely.

 

"You're right," Sicheng relented.

 

Taeil sighed contentedly at his victory and collapsed against Sicheng's side. Sicheng was perfect and soft for such a bony person. Taeil liked his warmth.

 

He allowed Sicheng to be absorbed in the game he played on his phone for a few moments. It made satisfyingly loud jingling sounds as Sicheng collected coins from some village or other in a game.

 

"You know, some kid at middle school said you could jump rope with your string," Taeil said when he grew bored of their lack of conversation. Now that he was in reach of the other end of his string so often, Taeil knew it was a ludicrous idea. The string was basically intangible. Still, it had seemed perfectly plausible when he was younger.

 

Sicheng giggled. "I bet you believed it."

 

Taeil grinned lazily. "Yup."

 

Sicheng kissed him then. It was nice that Sicheng thought he was cute when he was dumb.

 

"You're the cutest," he told Sicheng again.

 

"I'm only cuter than you," Sicheng said, but he didn't mean it.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Doyoung skipped his soulmate workshop because he was out with a flu, and had thus never answered silly questionnaires about ideal types.

 

He had been grateful because he thought ideals were stupid. Your soulmate was your soulmate, and if you worked out that that'd be great. If you didn't then that was too bad. Doyoung had seen soulmates getting divorced before. He had also seen divorcees fall in love with other people. It wasn't the end of the world.

 

Even as a child, Doyoung had fancied himself sensible.

 

\---

 

It was somewhat anticlimactic to meet your soulmate at the dentist. Even though Doyoung had never gotten caught up in the expectations or worry that seemed to sweep other people up as far as soulmates were concerned, he did find himself underwhelmed.

 

After he'd gotten himself registered at the counter, a red string appeared around his finger.

 

He twisted it around his fingers as he waited for his turn, scrutinizing it for its exact width and colour. The parts of it that weren't in contact with his finger appeared solid to his eyes but not to his touch. It was peculiar.

 

The length of his string travelled around the room in a large red tangle. Either his soulmate had paced, or strings just behaved in this way. He erred on the side of believing the latter, as soulmate threads were notoriously difficult to trace until the fateful meeting occurred.

 

The door to the treatment room slid open and the threads resolved themselves. So that was Doyoung's soulmate. His jaw was a little swollen and he appeared to be in a daze.  _Well,_ Doyoung thought critically,  _he has the attractiveness thing going for him at least._

 

His soulmate stumbled into the seat across from Doyoung's, waiting to make payment and collect his medicine. Soulmate affinity had to be a myth, because he didn't spare a glance for Doyoung.

 

Doyoung waited a few long moments to catch his gaze. When his soulmate finally redirected his eyes somewhere else, Doyoung raised his hand wordlessly, the action catching his soulmate's eye.

 

His soulmate took a few seconds to puzzle through the sign, then looked down at his own hand in shock. He indicated to his jaw then, and did not say anything. Poor guy must have had some teeth taken out.

 

A digital display  _dinged_ as Doyoung's queue number flashed. He shrugged at his soulmate and made his way up. He couldn't exactly skip his appointment, could he? If his soulmate cared at all, he'd wait for Doyoung to come back out.

 

Quite amusingly, his soulmate rolled his eyes at him. He made a gesture with his hands to indicate that Doyoung could still talk even if his own jaw couldn't move. Doyoung wanted to laugh. Well he  _could,_ but he didn't feel like doing that.

 

"Nakamoto Yuta, please proceed to make your payment," the staff at the counter called right as Doyoung was about to enter the dentist's room. His soulmate stood up and walked in the the counter's direction.

 

Well then. Thathad to be his name huh?

 

Doyoung wondered how they'd turn out to be.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on twitter at [taeyongiiee](https://twitter.com/taeyongiiee).


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